Bus with a panoramic front window

ABSTRACT

My bus enhances the viewing experience of passengers by providing a panoramic front window to enable a passenger to see into a cab section of the bus and through the panoramic front window. The panoramic front window has a predetermined configuration that minimizes drag.

INCORPORATION BY REFERENCE

Any and all U.S. patents, U.S. patent applications, and other documents,hard copy or electronic, cited or referred to in this application areincorporated herein by reference and made a part of this application.

DEFINITIONS

The words “comprising,” “having,” “containing,” and “including,” andother forms thereof, are intended to be equivalent in meaning and beopen ended in that an item or items following any one of these words isnot meant to be an exhaustive listing of such item or items, or meant tobe limited to only the listed item or items.

BACKGROUND

Passenger buses typically include a forward cab section were the driversits and a rear section connected to the forward cab section. Passengerssit in the rear section. A partition wall may be between these sectionsthat completely or partially blocks a view by passengers through a frontwindow in the cab section. Alternatively, the rear cab section may be ahigher elevation then the forward cab section completely or partiallyblocking a view by passengers. The front window of the forward cabsection typically has a trapezoidal shape and is slanted rearward tominimize drag.

SUMMARY

My bus enhances the viewing experience of passengers by providing apanoramic front window to enable a passenger to see into the forward cabsection and through the panoramic front window. The panoramic frontwindow has a predetermined configuration that minimizes drag. My bus hasone or more of the features depicted in the embodiments discussed in thesection entitled “DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF SOME ILLUSTRATIVEEMBODIMENTS.” The claims that follow define my bus with a panoramicwindow, distinguishing it from the prior art; however, without limitingthe scope of my bus as expressed by these claims, in general terms,some, but not necessarily all, of its features are:

One, my bus includes a forward cab section and a rear passenger sectionconnected to the forward cab section. A partition wall is between thesections and has an enlarged central opening therein. The enlargedopening has a predetermined height and width with the height beinggreater than said width. The forward cab section has a drivercompartment comprising opposed sides connected by a roof and a OEM frontcab window having an upper horizontally oriented edge having apredetermined width. In the cab section is front cab window that may betrapezoidal in shape and be slanted rearward at an angle of from 20 to60 degrees.

Two, the driver compartment comprises opposed sides connected by a roofand a front cab window that is rearward slanting. In one embodiment, thefront cab window is trapezoidal in shape and has a single curvedexterior surface with a radius of curvature along a longitudinal centralaxis of the front wall from 100 to 150 inches. The partition wall'senlarged opening has a top portion and a bottom portion, and the topportion is positioned with respect to the window cab unit and the bottomportion is positioned with respect to the driver compartment to enable apassenger to simultaneously look through both the window cab unit anddriver compartment and see through both the front cab window and theforward-facing panoramic window.

Three, the rear passenger section has a passenger compartment and awindow cap unit forward of the passenger compartment that overlies theroof of the driver compartment and has therein a forward-facingpanoramic window that is rearward slanting. In one embodiment, thewindow cap unit's forward-facing window is trapezoidal in shape andslanted rearward at an angle of from 40 to 50 degrees.

Four, the forward-facing panoramic window may have a predeterminedheight of at least 19 inches and a first horizontally oriented edge thathas a width dimension that is greater than a second opposed horizontallyoriented edge that has a width dimension equal to or at least 90 percentof said predetermined width of said upper horizontally oriented edge ofthe front cab window. The forward-facing window may be positioned sothat its second edge is adjacent the upper edge of the front cab windowand is aligned centrally along a common central reference line with thefront cab window to form a panoramic front window. The front cabwindow's upper horizontally oriented edge is contiguous with or spacedfrom the second edge of the forward-facing window's by a distance nogreater than 6 inches.

Five, the forward-facing panoramic window of the window cap may have aconvex exterior surface comprising a compound curvature with a radius ofcurvature along a longitudinal central axis of the front wall is from150 to 190 inches and along a latitudinal central axis of the frontwindow is from 150 to 190 inches. The front cab window may have a singlecurved exterior surface with a radius of curvature along a latitudinalcentral axis of the front wall is from 100 to 150 inches.

Six, exterior surfaces of the front cab window and forward-facingpanoramic window of the window cap may make an obtuse angle ranging from150 to 210 degrees.

Seven, the cab section window and the window cap unit window arepositioned with a shortest width dimension of each of these windowsadjacent each other and the windows aligned centrally along a commoncentral reference line and forming a panoramic front window.

Eight, the passenger compartment may include seats for passengerspositioned with respect to the panoramic window to enable a passengerwhen seated in a seat to see simultaneously through the enlarged openinginto the cab section and into the window cap unit and through thepanoramic front window.

Nine, the passenger compartment may have a floor supporting the seatsand a doorway on a side of the passenger section with at least one stepto assist passengers to enter the passenger section. The floor ispositioned with respect to the panoramic window, and the predeterminedheight of the forward-facing window and the enlarged opening in thepartition wall are all sufficiently large to enable a passenger whenseated in a seat or standing on the floor and looking towards the drivercompartment to see into the cab section and into the window cap unit andthrough the panoramic front window.

Ten, the cab section window has a perimeter including an upperhorizontally oriented edge, and the window in window cap unit is locatedabove the cab section window and has a perimeter including a lowerhorizontally oriented edge. The cab section window and the window capunit window are positioned so their horizontally oriented edges areadjacent each other and the windows are aligned along a common centralreference line to form the panoramic front window. The horizontallyoriented edges are contiguous with or spaced from each other by adistance no greater than 6 inches, and the combined perimeters of saidwindows forming in outline of an hourglass shape.

These features are not listed in any rank order nor is this listintended to be exhaustive.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING

Some embodiments of my bus are discussed in detail in connection withthe accompanying drawing, which is for illustrative purposes only. Thisdrawing includes the following figures (Figs.), with like numerals andletters indicating like parts:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of one embodiment of my bus with apanoramic front window.

FIG. 1A is fragmentary front view of the one embodiment of my busdepicted in FIG. 1 illustrating one embodiment of a panoramic frontwindow.

FIG. 2 is a right side elevation view of the embodiment of my busillustrated in FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a left side elevation view of the embodiment of my busillustrated in FIG. 1.

FIG. 4 is a top plan view of the embodiment of my bus illustrated inFIG. 1 with some internal components shown in dotted lines.

FIG. 5 is a passenger's view from inside the passenger section of theembodiment of my bus illustrated in FIG. 1 where the window cap unitemploys the forward-facing window depicted in FIGS. 6 through 8.

FIG. 6 is a plan view looking at the exterior of a first embodiment ofthe forward-facing window of the passenger section's window cap unit ofthe embodiment of my bus illustrated in FIG. 1.

FIG. 7 is a perspective view of the embodiment of the forward-facingwindow illustrated in FIG. 6 looking along a latitudinal axis at thewindow's interior.

FIG. 8 is a perspective view of the embodiment of the forward-facingwindow illustrated in FIG. 6 looking along a longitudinal axis at thewindow's interior.

FIG. 9 is a plan view looking at the exterior of a second embodiment ofa forward-facing window of the passenger section's window cap unit.

FIG. 10 is a perspective view of the embodiment of the forward-facingwindow illustrated in FIG. 9 looking along a latitudinal axis at thewindow's interior.

FIG. 11 is a perspective view of the embodiment of the forward-facingwindow illustrated in FIG. 9 looking along a longitudinal axis at thewindow's interior.

FIG. 12 is a plan view looking at the exterior of a third embodiment ofthe forward-facing window of the passenger section's window cap unit.

FIG. 13 is a perspective view of the forward-facing window illustratedin FIG. 12 looking along a latitudinal axis at the window's interior.

FIG. 14 is a perspective view of the embodiment of the forward-facingwindow illustrated in FIG. 12 looking along a longitudinal axis at thewindow's interior.

FIG. 15 is a passenger's view from inside the passenger section of asecond embodiment of my bus where the window cap unit employs theforward-facing window depicted in FIGS. 9 through 11.

FIG. 16 is a passenger's view from inside the passenger section of asecond embodiment of my bus where the window cap unit employs theforward-facing window depicted in FIGS. 12 through 14.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF SOME ILLUSTRATIVE EMBODIMENTS

My bus has several embodiments employing panoramic front windows ofdifferent sizes. For example, FIGS. 6 through 8 depict a firstembodiment panoramic front window designated by the letters PFW, FIGS. 9through 11 depict a second embodiment designated by the alpha-numeralPFW2, and FIGS. 12 through 14 depict a third embodiment designated bythe alpha-numeral PFW3.

FIGS. 1 through 8 illustrate one embodiment of my bus generallydesignated by the numeral 10 and employing the panoramic front windowPFW. The bus 10 includes a forward cab section FCS and a rear passengersection RPS connected to the forward cab section with a partition wallPW between these sections. As best depicted in FIG. 5, the partitionwall PW (FIG. 5) has an enlarged opening 12 therein that enablespassengers seated or standing in the rear passenger section RPS to lookthrough the panoramic front window PFW when looking towards the forwardcab section FCS.

As best illustrated in FIG. 1, the forward cab section FCS has a drivercompartment DC comprising opposed sides SD1 and SD2 connected by a roofR and a front cab window 14 having an upper horizontally oriented edgelongitudinal ED1 a and a lower horizontally oriented edge longitudinalED1 b. The lower edge ED1 b has a width that mostly extends across theentire width of the forward cab section FCS. The typical width of anautomotive vehicle cab section is from 70 to 90 inches. The upper edgeED1 a has a width that is from 15 to 30 percent less than that of theedge ED1 b. The front cab window 14 is trapezoidal in shape, is slantedrearward at an angle A (FIG. 3) of from 20 to 60 degrees with respect toa horizontal reference line HRL1, and has a height of at least 18inches. The typical height of an automotive vehicle's front window isfrom 18 to 28 inches.

The rear passenger section RPS has a passenger compartment PC (FIG. 4)and a window cap unit WU forward of the passenger compartment thatoverlies the roof R of the driver compartment DC. The passengercompartment PC has a floor F supporting two rows of passenger seats PSfor the passengers and a doorway DW on a side SD3 (FIG. 2) of the rearpassenger section RPS next to the partition wall PW opposite a driver ofthe bus. A door 18 mounted in the doorway DW opens onto at least onestep ST in the floor F that assists passengers to enter the passengercompartment PC.

The window cap unit WU includes a rearward slanted, forward-facingwindow 16 that is trapezoidal in shape, is slanted rearward at an angleB (FIG. 3) of from 40 to 60 degrees with respect to a horizontalreference line HRL2, and has a predetermined height of at least 18inches, typically ranging from 18 to 24 inches. The exterior surfaces ofthe front cab window 14 and the forward-facing window 16 make an obtuseangle C (FIG. 3).

As best illustrated in FIG. 1, an upper horizontally oriented firstlongitudinal edge ED2 has a width dimension that is greater than a lowerhorizontally oriented second longitudinal edge ED3. This lower edge ED3has a width dimension equal to or at least 90 percent of predeterminedwidth of the upper edge ED1 a of the front cab window 14.

The panoramic front window PFW comprises both the front cab window 14and the forward-facing window 16 as best shown in FIGS. 1 and 5. Thefront cab window 14 and forward-facing window 16 are positioned so thatthe forward-facing window's lower edge ED3 is adjacent the upper edgeED1 a of the front cab window and they are aligned centrally along acommon central reference line RL with each other to form the panoramicfront window PFW. As best shown in FIG. 1A, the side edges ED4 and ED5of the upper window 16 and the side edges ED6 and ED7 slant,respectively, inward towards the horizontally oriented edges ED3 and ED1a form an hourglass configured perimeter 20 of the panoramic frontwindow PFW

The positioned floor F is with respect to the panoramic front windowPFW, the size of the forward-facing window, particularly its height, andthe size of enlarged opening 12 in the partition wall PW are configuredto enable a passenger when seated in a passenger seat PS or standing onthe floor F to see into the a driver compartment DC and through thepanoramic front window PFW.

The embodiment of my bus designated by the numeral 10 a (FIG. 15)employs the panoramic front window PFW2. Since the height of thispanoramic front window PFW2 isn't as great as the height of thepanoramic front window PFW, the area through which a passenger sees theoutside is reduced. The embodiment of my bus designated by the numeral10 b (FIG. 16) employs the panoramic front window PFW3. Again, since theheight of this panoramic front window PFW3 isn't as great as the heightsof the panoramic front windows PFW and PFW2, the area through which apassenger sees the outside is further reduced. Nevertheless, thesereduced areas of passenger view in the second and third embodimentsstill provided an enhanced passenger viewing experience.

SCOPE OF THE INVENTION

The above presents a description of the best mode I contemplate ofcarrying out my bus, and of the manner and process of making and usingit in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable a personskilled in the art to make and use. My bus is, however, susceptible tomodifications and alternate constructions from the illustrativeembodiments discussed above which are fully equivalent. Consequently, itis not the intention to limit my bus to the particular embodimentsdisclosed. On the contrary, my intention is to cover all modificationsand alternate constructions coming within the spirit and scope of my busas generally expressed by the following claims, which particularly pointout and distinctly claim the subject matter of my invention:

1. A bus including a forward cab section and a rear passenger sectionconnected to the forward cab section with a partition wall between saidsections having an enlarged central opening therein, said forward cabsection having a driver compartment comprising opposed sides connectedby a roof and a front cab window having an upper horizontally orientededge having a predetermined width, said rear passenger section having apassenger compartment and a window cap unit forward of the passengercompartment that overlies the roof of the driver compartment, saidwindow cap unit including a rearward slanted, forward-facing window thathas a predetermined height of at least 18 inches and a firsthorizontally oriented edge that has a width dimension that is greaterthan a second opposed horizontally oriented edge that has a widthdimension equal to or at least 90 percent of said predetermined width ofsaid upper horizontally oriented edge of the front cab window, saidforward-facing window being positioned so that said forward-facingwindow's second edge is adjacent the upper edge of the front cab windowand is aligned centrally along a common central reference line with thefront cab window to form a panoramic front window, said passengercompartment having a floor supporting seats for the passengers and adoorway on a side of the passenger section with at least one step toassist passengers to enter the passenger section, said floor positionedwith respect to the panoramic window, and said predetermined height ofthe forward-facing window and said enlarged opening in the partitionwall are all sufficiently large to enable a passenger when seated in aseat or standing on the floor and looking towards the driver compartmentto see into the cab section and into the window cap unit and through thepanoramic front window.
 2. The bus of claim 1 where the front cabwindow's upper horizontally oriented edge is contiguous with or spacedfrom the forward-facing window's second edge by a distance no greaterthan 6 inches.
 3. The bus of claim 1 where the enlarged opening has atop portion and a bottom portion, and the top portion is positioned withrespect to the window cab unit and the bottom portion is positioned withrespect to the driver compartment to enable a passenger tosimultaneously look through both the window cab unit and drivercompartment and see through both the front cab window and theforward-facing window.
 4. The bus of claim 1 where the enlarged openinghas a predetermined height and width with said height being greater thansaid width.
 5. The bus of claim 1 where the front cab window istrapezoidal in shape and slanted rearward at an angle of from 20 to 60degrees.
 6. The bus of claim 1 where the forward-facing window istrapezoidal in shape and slanted rearward at an angle of from 40 to 60degrees.
 7. The bus of claim 1 where the forward-facing window has aconvex exterior surface comprising a compound curvature with a radius ofcurvature along a longitudinal central axis of the front wall is from150 to 190 degrees and along a latitudinal central axis of the frontwindow is from 50 to 95 degrees.
 8. The bus of claim 1 where the frontcab window has a single curved exterior surface with a radius ofcurvature along a longitudinal central axis of the front wall is from100 to 150 inches.
 9. A bus including a forward cab section and a rearpassenger section separated by a partition wall having an enlargedcentral opening therein, said forward cab section having a drivercompartment comprising opposed sides connected by a roof and a front cabwindow that is trapezoidal in shape and is rearward slanting, said rearpassenger section having a passenger compartment and a window cap unitforward of the passenger compartment that overlies the roof of thedriver compartment and has therein a forward-facing window that istrapezoidal in shape and is rearward slanting, said cab section windowand said window cap unit window positioned with a shortest widthdimension of each said windows adjacent each other and said windowsaligned centrally along a common central reference line and forming apanoramic front window, said passenger compartment including seats forpassengers positioned with respect to the panoramic window to enable apassenger when seated in a seat to see simultaneously through theenlarged opening into the cab section and into window cap unit andthrough the panoramic front window.
 10. The bus of claim 9 where thewindows are each slanted rearward at an angle of from 20 to 60 degrees.11. The bus of claim 10 where exterior surfaces of the windows make anobtuse angle ranging from 150 to 210 degrees.
 12. The bus of claim 11where the window cap window has a convex exterior surface comprising acompound curvature with a radius of curvature along a longitudinalcentral axis of the front wall is from 150 to 190 degrees and along alatitudinal central axis of the front window is from 50 to 90 inches.13. The bus of claim 12 where the front cab window has a single curvedexterior surface with a radius of curvature along a longitudinal centralaxis of the front wall from 100 to 150 inches.
 14. A bus including aforward cab section and a rear passenger section including a forwardwindow cap unit that overlies a roof of the forward cab section, saidsections connected to enable a passenger in the rear passenger sectionto see into the cab section and into window cap unit and through apanoramic front window form by a rearward slanting window in a front ofthe cab section that has a perimeter including an upper horizontallyoriented edge, and a rearward slanting window in a front of the windowcap unit and located above the cab section window that has a perimeterincluding a lower horizontally oriented edge, said cab section windowand said window cap unit window are positioned so their horizontallyoriented edges are adjacent each other and said windows are alignedalong a common central reference line to form said panoramic frontwindow, the horizontally oriented edges being contiguous with or spacedfrom each other by a distance no greater than 6 inches, and saidcombined perimeters of said windows forming in outline of an hourglassshape.
 15. The bus of claim 14 where the perimeter of each window istrapezoidal in shape, slants rearward at an angle of from 20 to 60degrees, and said windows each have an exterior surface which make anobtuse angle with each other ranging from 150 to 210 degrees.
 16. Thebus of claim 15 where the window cap window has a convex exteriorsurface comprising a compound curvature with a radius of curvature alonga longitudinal central axis of the front wall is from 150 to 190 inchesand along a latitudinal central axis of the front window is from 50 to95 inches, and the front cab window has a single curved exterior surfacewith a radius of curvature along a longitudinal central axis of thefront wall is from 100 to 150 degrees.